It is the 161th birthday of the German microbiologist Julius Richard Petri, whom we can thank for those low-tech but indispensable tools of the microbiology lab: the petri dish. Google honors Petris birthday today with their lovely Google Doodle riffing on his invaluable discovery.

The Google Doodle for May 31, 2013 in honor of Julius Richard Petri. Image: Google.

Petri created these nowubiquitousshallow containers while working as an assistant to Robert Koch, the man widely referred to as the father of microbiology. (Kochs postulates of germ theory detail the essential methodology needed to identify the causative agent of a disease.) Petris dishes would be supplied with the gelatinous agar that served as a culture medium providing anything from amino acids, salts, carbohydrates and blood to encourage bacterial growth. The lidded dishes created a contained environment, a miniature cordon sanitaire, in which to culture isolated bacteria and prevent contamination from airborne organisms and molds. His simple discovery paved the way for more sophisticated advancements and vital discoveries in microbiology.

In the Doodle, a gloved hand swabs each petri dish and slowly bacteria and molds materialize within. The growth in the six dishes just discernibly spells out G-O-O-G-L-E and rolling your mouse over each will identify the provenance of those captured organisms:

G is a fetid sock. O, a doorknob followed by a computer keyboard swab as the second O. G is a swab from a dog (but which part?). L, a flower. And E, the grossest of them all, is a kitchen sponge.

Google Doodles are the search engines online tip of the hat to the world outside our computer,acknowledgingholidays and important anniversaries as well as pioneering scientists, artists and innovators in variousdisciplines.My favorites include the gorgeous animated tribute to the dancer Martha Graham, and the doodles for the mathematicianAda Lovelaceand the naturalistMinakata Kumagusuwho studied fungi and slime molds. To see all of the Google Doodles designed in the past 15 years, now clocking in at more than 1000, check out their page here.

Resources

Care to know more about laboratorytechniquesof old? Check out my article on a rather ignominiouspiece of science history, Suck It: The Ins and Outs of Mouth Pipetting.

I wrote about Nobel prizesawardedto great discoveries in microbiology in my post Nobel Prizes, Tropical Medicine & One Nazi Sympathizer. Robert Koch is included in thisillustrious list for his work in identifying the bacterial organismresponsiblefor tuberculosis, once thought to be an inheritable disease.

Alexander Flemings fluke discovery ofpenicillinrelied on using petri dishes.

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Today's Google Doodle Honors the Petri Dish